Say You're One of Them [NOOK Book]

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Overview

Uwem Akpan's stunning stories humanize the perils of poverty and violence so piercingly that few readers will feel they've ever encountered Africa so immediately. The eight-year-old narrator of "An Ex-Mas Feast" needs only enough money to buy books and pay fees in order to attend school. Even when his twelve-year-old sister takes to the streets to raise these meager funds, his dream can't be granted. Food comes first. His family lives in a street shanty in Nairobi, Kenya, but their way of both loving and taking advantage of each other strikes a universal chord.
In the second of his stories published in a New Yorker special fiction issue, Akpan takes us far beyond what we thought we knew ...
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More About This Book

Overview

Uwem Akpan's stunning stories humanize the perils of poverty and violence so piercingly that few readers will feel they've ever encountered Africa so immediately. The eight-year-old narrator of "An Ex-Mas Feast" needs only enough money to buy books and pay fees in order to attend school. Even when his twelve-year-old sister takes to the streets to raise these meager funds, his dream can't be granted. Food comes first. His family lives in a street shanty in Nairobi, Kenya, but their way of both loving and taking advantage of each other strikes a universal chord.
In the second of his stories published in a New Yorker special fiction issue, Akpan takes us far beyond what we thought we knew about the tribal conflict in Rwanda. The story is told by a young girl, who, with her little brother, witnesses the worst possible scenario between parents. They are asked to do the previously unimaginable in order to protect their children. This singular collection will also take the reader inside Nigeria, Benin, and Ethiopia, revealing in beautiful prose the harsh consequences for children of life in Africa.
Akpan's voice is a literary miracle, rendering lives of almost unimaginable deprivation and terror into stories that are nothing short of transcendent. Bonus ebook content: includes an interview with "The New Yorker," additional photos of the author, discussion questions and topics, and a link to a music download.
  • Say You're One of Them
    Say You're One of Them  

Editorial Reviews

Janet Maslin
…[a] startling debut collection…[Akpan] fuses a knowledge of African poverty and strife with a conspicuously literary approach to storytelling, filtering tales of horror through the wide eyes of the young. In each of the tales in Say You're One of Them a protagonist's childlike innocence is ultimately savaged by the facts of African life.
—The New York Times
Publishers Weekly
This brilliant collection of short stories by Nigerian-born Akpan invites listeners into a world of beauty and heartbreak where young people in the throes of adolescence struggle to survive harrowing violence and tragedy. Miles and the remarkable Graham meet the prose with their own intensity and bring flourishes to the realistic, empathetic characters. Graham is a true stand-out: he inhabits each character fully, aces accents, and excels at conveying an understated melancholy. A thrilling work of art. A Little, Brown hardcover. (Oct.)
More Reviews (2) Fewer Reviews
School Library Journal

Adult/High School

With the intensity of Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, Say You're One of Them tells of the horrors faced by young people throughout Africa. Akpan uses five short stories (though at well over 100 pages, both "Luxurious Hearses" and "Fattening for Gabon" are nearly stand-alone novels in their own right) to bring to light topics ranging from selling children in Gabon to the Muslim vs. Christian battles in Ethiopia. The characters face choices that most American high school students will never have to-whether or not to prostitute oneself to provide money for one's homeless family, whether to save oneself, even if it means sacrificing a beloved sibling in the process. The selections are peppered with a mix of English, French, and a variety of African tongues, and some teens may find themselves reading at a slower pace than usual, but the impact of the stories is well worth the effort. The collection offers a multitude of learning opportunities and would be well suited for "Authors not born in the United States" reading and writing assignments. Teens looking for a more upbeat, but still powerful, story may prefer Bryce Courtenay's The Power of One (Random, 1989).-Sarah Krygier, Solano County Library, Fairfield, CA

Kirkus Reviews
Redemption is in short supply in these five stories by a Nigerian priest about children caught in the crossfire of various African countries' upheavals. The opener of this debut collection, "An Ex-mas Feast," is one of the more upbeat entries-which isn't saying much, since its eight-year-old narrator describes sniffing shoe glue to ward off hunger in a Nairobi shanty town while his 12-year-old sister proudly moves from street prostitution to a brothel. In "Fattening for Gabon," a morbid variation on Hansel and Gretel, an uncle literally fattens up his nephew and niece to sell them into slavery. Although he genuinely loves them, his repentance comes too late and with not-unexpected tragic results. The least arresting story is the slight and familiar "What Language Is That?" Their families profess liberal, inclusive attitudes, but a Christian child and her Muslim best friend are prohibited from communicating when rioting breaks out in Addis Ababa, although the girls do find, perhaps briefly, "a new language." That miniscule glimmer of hope for humanity disappears in "Luxurious Hearses," an emotionally exhausting encapsulation of the devastation caused by religion. Baptized as an infant by his Catholic father, raised in a strict Muslim community by his mother, adolescent Jubril is targeted by extremists who happen to be his former playmates. Fleeing religious riots in northern Nigeria on a luxury bus full of Christians, he keeps his right wrist in his pocket; if they see that his hand has been amputated (for stealing, under Sharia law), they will know he is Muslim. Jubril comes close to finding acceptance among his fellow passengers, which only makes their ultimate violence against him thatmuch more disturbing. The final story, "My Parents' Bedroom," goes beyond disturbing toward unbearable as the children of a Tutsi mother and Hutu father in Rwanda witness the unspeakable acts their decent parents are forced to commit. Haunting prose. Unrelenting horror. An almost unreadable must-read. Agent: Maria Massie/Lippincott Massie McQuilkin

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780316032520
  • Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
  • Publication date: 6/9/2008
  • Sold by: Hachette Digital, Inc.
  • Format: eBook
  • Sales rank: 29,636
  • Series: Oprah's Book Club Series
  • File size: 484 KB

Meet the Author

Uwem Akpan was born inIkot Akpan Eda in southern Nigeria. After studying philosophy and English at Creighton and Gonzaga universities, he studied theology for three years at theCatholic Universityof Eastern Africa. He was ordained as a Jesuit priest in 2003 and received his MFA in creative writing from theUniversity of Michiganin 2006. "My Parents' Bedroom," a story from hisshort story collection,Say You're One of Them, was one offive short storiesby African writers chosen as finalists for TheCaine Prizefor African Writing 2007.Say You're One of Themwon the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book (Africa Region) 2009 and PEN/Beyond Margins Award 2009, and was finalist for the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction.In 2007, Akpan taught at a Jesuit college inHarare, Zimbabwe.Now he serves atChristthe King Church, Ilasamaja-Lagos,Nigeria.

Read an Excerpt

Say You're One Of Them
Chapter One
An Ex-mas Feast
Now that my eldest sister, Maisha, was twelve, none of us knew how to relate to her anymore. She had never forgiven our parents for not being rich enough to send her to school. She had been behaving like a cat that was going feral: she came home less and less frequently, staying only to change her clothes and give me some money to pass on to our parents. When home, she avoided them as best she could, as if their presence reminded her of too many things in our lives that needed money. Though she would snap at Baba occasionally, she never said anything to Mama. Sometimes Mama went out of her way to provoke her. " Malaya! Whore! You don't even have breasts yet!" she'd say. Maisha would ignore her.
Maisha shared her thoughts with Naema, our ten-year-old sister, more than she did with the rest of us combined, mostly talking about the dos and don'ts of a street girl. Maisha let Naema try on her high heels, showed her how to doll up her face, how to use toothpaste and a brush. She told her to run away from any man who beat her, no matter how much money he offered her, and that she would treat Naema like Mama if she grew up to have too many children. She told Naema that it was better to starve to death than go out with any man without a condom.
When she was at work, though, she ignored Naema, perhaps because Naema reminded her of home or because she didn't want Naema to see that her big sister wasn't as cool and chic as she made herself out to be. She tolerated me more outside than inside. I could chat her up on the pavement no matter what rags I was wearing. An eight-year-old boy wouldn't get in the way whenshe was waiting for a customer. We knew how to pretend we were strangers-just a street kid and a prostitute talking.
Yet our machokosh family was lucky. Unlike most, our street family had stayed together-at least until that Ex-mas season.
The sun had gone down on Ex-mas evening. Bad weather had stormed the seasons out of order, and Nairobi sat in a low flood, the light December rain droning on our tarpaulin roof. I was sitting on the floor of our shack, which stood on a cement slab at the end of an alley, leaning against the back of an old brick shop. Occasional winds swelled the brown polythene walls. The floor was nested with cushions that I had scavenged from a dump on Biashara Street. At night, we rolled up the edge of the tarpaulin to let in the glow of the shop's security lights. A board, which served as our door, lay by the shop wall.

Table of Contents


An Ex-mas Feast     3
Fattening for Gabon     37
What Language Is That?     173
Luxurious Hearses     187
My Parents' Bedroom     323
Afterword     355
Acknowledgments     357

Interviews & Essays

A Message from the Author
I was born under a palm-wine tree in Ikot Akpan Eda in Ikot Ekpene Diocese in Nigeria. I was inspired to write by the people who sit around my village church to share palm wine after Sunday Mass, by the Bible and by the humor and endurance of the poor.

\ \ My grandfather was one of those who brought the Catholic Church to our village. I was ordained as a Jesuit priest in 2003, and I like to celebrate the sacraments for my fellow villagers. Some of them have no problem stopping me in the road and asking for confession!

\ \ I have very fond memories of my childhood in my village, where everybody knows everybody, and all my paternal uncles still live together in one big compound.

\ \ When I was growing up, my mother told me folktales and got me and my three brothers to read a lot. I became a fiction writer during my seminary days. I wrote at night, when the community computers were free. Computer viruses ate much of my work. Finally, my friend Wes Harris believed in me enough to get me a laptop. This saved me from the despair of losing my stories and made me begin to see God again in the seminary. The stories on that first laptop are the core of Say You’re One of Them. I received my MFA in creative writing from the University of Michigan in 2006.

\ \ I always look forward to visiting my village. No matter how high the bird flies, its legs still face the earth. When I get back to Ikot Akpan Eda, my people and I will celebrate this book in our own way -- with lots of tall tales, spontaneous prayers and palm wine! --Uwem Akpan

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 3.5
( 181 )

Rating Distribution

5 Star

(38)

4 Star

(49)

3 Star

(34)

2 Star

(42)

1 Star

(18)

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See All Sort by: Showing 1 – 20 of 182 Customer Reviews

  • Posted September 18, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    I Also Recommend:

    9780974320625

    A worthy Oprah's book club selection

    I read this book last week and wasn't surprised to see it selected to Oprah's book club, simply because it's a wonderful and unusual book that is deeply touching.

    SAY YOU'RE ONE OF THEM is a book of five short stories written by Uwem Akpan. All of the stories are set in Africa and are told from a child's perspective. They deal with such topics as slavery, religious conflict, genocide and poverty. These are stories of love and sacrifice. They are stories of compassion and confusion. They make you wonder how children can grow up and survive under such circumstances. Some of the stories will leave you feeling numb.

    The story that had the biggest impact on me was My Parent's Bedroom. It's the story of Monique, a young girl living in Rwanda with her Tutsi mother and her Hutu father. There is conflict between the two tribes, which Monique and her brother Jean don't understand. It all comes to a horrifying ending for their family when their mother makes the ultimate sacrifice. I can't describe the horror I felt at the end of this story.

    I enjoyed SAY YOU'RE ONE OF THEM and think it's a significant book, but I found some of the dialogue very difficult to read. I think it would have been even harder if I didn't know some French. There were times when I had to read sentences several times to extract their meaning. Here's an example of dialogue, chosen at random:

    "My mama no be like dat," Jubril argued. "I say I dey come. I go join una now now. Ah ah, no vex now. Come, pollow me go fark dis cows, and I go join."

    This book isn't a fast read, but I think it's an important one. The title of the book comes from the fact that children in Africa sometimes have to deny their identity and say they're one of "them" (another tribe or religion) in order to survive. You will be a different person after you've read this book.

    This week I'm reading EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE 2.0, which is also an incredible book that is having a HUGE impact upon me personally. If you have any interest in personal development, I recommend buying both books. Now I just need to figure out what I'm going to read next week!

    36 out of 37 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted February 13, 2010

    more from this reviewer

    Eye opening read!

    This is a truly eye opening collection of stories, each from a child's perspective, about issues of survival in today's Africa.

    While the stories are set in a few countries, they don't try to single any one out in particular. Nor are the people all poor, uneducated and oppressed. The stories encompass a diverse Africa, more unique and real than I knew. I was drawn into many situations that I found myself overwhelmed at what was required just to survive, let alone triumph over the adversities.

    The writing is eloquent in giving a voice to an Africa unseen by most of the world outside her borders. It made each story live beyond just facts on a page. These things were happening to people I felt close to, and cared about.

    Take the plunge. Read this book. I'm sure you'll remember it long after you finish

    5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted September 20, 2009

    I Also Recommend:

    9781440140761 9781440140747

    ANOTHER STARTLING EYE-OPENER!

    A beautifully written, emotional account of long suffering lives from their vantage point. I came away feeling, acknowledging and aching for justice. Another book I read recently that affected me similarly and as deeply was EXPLOSION IN PARIS, by LINDA MASEMORE PIRRUNG. Only this book was more in the romantic suspense genre but also written beautifully and poetically. It left me feeling enlightened, but with a great sense of joy, satisfaction, well-being,compassion, and that we are all worth fighting for. JUSTICE SHOULD ALWAYS PREVAIL!!

    5 out of 13 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted July 8, 2008

    A reviewer

    'Fiction that gives the children of Africa a voice' is what this book is called. These are voices that are difficult to listen to from our sheltered lives. This book is for anyone who ever said, 'Why didn't I ever hear about this?, when an injustice is publicized.

    5 out of 7 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted April 3, 2010

    Scary, revealing, sad, not very hopeful

    Akpan reveals the atrocities that take place in Africa, mostly Nigeria, and the fate of children, the religious and tribal battles and bloodshed, the ignorance and corruption, and the negative effects perpetrated by big corporations on the people and how little the people matter to these big companies. It is almost unbelievable. In fact one story left me so distraught that I awoke two nights in a row with nightmares. Recently, the bloodshed in Jos, Nigeria, between two religious groups, mirrored a story in the book. Everyone loses, and the children lose the most.

    3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted February 9, 2010

    more from this reviewer

    Not for the faint of heart

    A great piece of literature, but it is not for the faint of heart. The stories are well written, and gives us just a glimpse of the travesties that children in Africa have had to face due to poverty & war from the perspective of a child.

    In all honestly, I just wanted to finish the book because it was too sad, and with each story, I kept anticipating that something bad was going to happen. My stomach was in knots.

    If you want an honest read, this is for you. If you're looking for a good piece of fiction to escape, I would suggest you look for something else.

    3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted December 30, 2009

    I Also Recommend:

    9780451221230 9780849900419 9780399155345 9781440140747

    Wonderful writing but you need a strong stomach.

    This isn't my usual choice of reading, but I'm glad Oprah suggested it. It certainly is an eye-opener, revealing the horrors of every day living other parts of the world must endure just to survive! We must count our blessings every day for all we have. This isn't one I will reread but I'm glad I read it. I have suggestions below on ones that I learned a lot from, are totally heartwarming and I will reread these because of the way they made me feel.

    3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 30, 2009

    Original, fresh and soul stirring

    Uwem Akpan manages to make human, visual and real characters whose lives are sordid, awful, immoral etc., at least in our western, safe-at-home picture window way of thinking. The stories of child slavery, prostitution etc., are told in a voice that simply tells us what the people are doing and seeing, often leaving it to us to decide what they might be feeling. After all it is what the characters feel that matters as we are so often led by our own feelings of the circumstances presented in a story. Here, I can really see through the eyes of the children and can leave my own ego out of it. It is a beautiful way of writing, story-telling.

    2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 9, 2009

    Cannot Read Again for a While

    Each story ended with no regards for the reader. The stories were so well written that the ending always caught you off guard that you had to read it over again to make sure you actually read it correctly. Great book, sad stories.

    2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted May 22, 2010

    Suffer Little Children

    This is a collection of short stories (two of which are novella length) dealing with children caught in Africa's maelstroms. Individually the stories are incredibly powerful and no doubt reflect African reality. As a collection, however, I found it hard to read: the author is essentially writing the same story several times, but dressing it differently. The feeling throughout the stories is one of relentless misery and fear. There are no happy endings.

    1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted May 14, 2010

    Children Suffering in Africa

    I got this book out of the library when I read on line that Oprah was scheduled to announce her next book club selection in a few weeks, and it looked like it was going to be this one, based on some clues that had been revealed. It was on the shelf in Hyde Park. When I tried to renew it after she announced it on her show, there were already several holds waiting, so I had to finish it in time to return.
    It consists of five short stories that take place in different countries in Africa. The are all focused on children and the effect that the dire circumstances of their life affect them. The first story, "An Ex-Mas Feast" takes place in Nairobi, Kenya. It is 32 pages long. The story revolves around a ten year old boy whose family is living in extreme poverty. His older sister is twelve and is earning money as a prostitute, selling herself to Western tourists. He parents encourage this.
    Next is "Fattening for Gabon," a 134 page story about two children who are going to be sold by their uncle and taken to Gabon. We see at the beginning of the story how the children are prepared for this in a way that convinces them that this is a good thing.
    "What Language is That?" is the shortest story at only 12 pages. It is about two girls in Ethiopia who are best friends until their religious differences make that impossible to continue.
    "Luxurious Hearses" is 134 pages. A teen-age boy who is from a mixed Christian-Muslim marriage has to flee from the mostly Muslim north of Nigeria to the mostly Christian south. He grew up in the north and was raised Muslim. But, he was facing attack from his former friends in the north because of his Christian heritage. He travels to the south, heading to his Christian father's village, on a bus filled with Christians who are also fleeing for their own protection, and he has to hide the fact that he is Muslim from them.
    "My Parents' Bedroom" is about a young girl in Rwanda, who is from a mixed Hutu-Tutsi marriage during the Hutu on Tutsi genocide that occurred there. It is another very short tale, only 30 pages.
    Of course, I was already aware of how desperate the situation is for so many in Africa, due to wars and other conflicts, poverty, disease, etc. The first story of the collection was so depressing, that I almost stopped reading the book. There is no hope in any of these stories, and you will feel greatly for the characters. Nothing much good happens in their lives. The stories will deeply affect you though.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted May 5, 2010

    I appreciate the author's point, but this book is unrelentingly sad

    Don't select this book based on the comments on the cover. It does portray the resiliency of youth and it is very worthwhile to be aware of the great troubles children face in various African countries, but each story ends with very little hope. The cover seems to suggest something uplifting. I did not find that to be the case at all. It certainly made me want to sponsor children in developing countries or send donations to groups working with underprivileged children, but so many stories with tragic endings felt like endless emotional punches.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 22, 2010

    Gave as gift

    I gave it to a book-loving friend, and she really enjoyed it.

    1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted February 6, 2010

    Makes you want to stand up and fight

    I did not know this was a collection of 5 stories when I purchased the book, but I have been pleasantly surprised. I have visited some of the places mentioned in the stories and I remember the setting. But this opened my eyes as to what happens behind closed doors in some homes. The story is written from the perspecitve of children and their hope and innocence makes it eaier for you to absorb the stories of travesties committed against children.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted January 23, 2010

    more from this reviewer

    Worth the read!

    Interesting story with a gripping plot. A little dry at times but definitely worth the read.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted January 16, 2010

    more from this reviewer

    A valuable read

    These stories are an accurate portrayal of life in a third world country.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted January 9, 2010

    I Also Recommend:

    9781401303358

    Great story, Great message

    This book can be taken as just a great story, as it is fictional. Or it can be taken as a message about many untold stories going on in Africa right now. The stories in this book are all told from a child's perspective, giving it an interesting and touching voice. Although the stories are fictional, they closely resemble problems and events in many countries in Africa. I would recommend this book for both people who are familiar with these problems and people that would be interested in learning through a well-written fiction. By the end of the story, your heart really goes out to these characters and everything they represent. The only thing that becomes difficult about this book is that occasionally words in the child's language are used in place of the English word without much explanation of what it means.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 20, 2009

    Important Subject

    While I found this book uncomfortable to read most of the time, it is very original in format and wonderfully written. The treatment of children in our world is often abhorent and though the subject matter is difficult, it is important for all of humanity to be reminded or informed of what is happening to our precious children and the forces creating these terrible circumstances.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 18, 2009

    Definitely Stimulating

    This book makes you think and react to incidents you probably are not accustomed to hearing, seeing or even knowing exist. It takes your emotions to the limits and shows the cruelty of mankind and the gentle retort of a child who is trying to make sense of some of the most tragic situations one can find themselves faced in life. It shows the willingness of children to forgive the worst of situations and their capacity to love beyond what adults can make them endure.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted December 11, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    Bridget's Review

    I've never had to worry about not having food or shelter. I never had to wonder whether or not I would be able to attend school. These are some things that have always been an automatic in my life. I find that a lot of people take the most simple things for granted, me included. I don't know what I would do if I were to walk in someone else's shoes.

    One of the main reasons I love books is because it gives you a chance to be someone else. At least until you turn the last page. Part of the reason that I am as strong as I am, is because reading gives me strength. This book/audiobook, cannot be read/heard without feeling a sense of empowerment. As you've probably guessed, I really enjoyed this.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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